RIO DE JANEIRO – The middleweight division did not provide refuge to Luis Cane, at least against Chris Camozzi.

Camozzi outworked the Brazilian en route to a unanimous decision by scores of 29-28 across the board.

The middleweight bout was part of Saturday’s UFC 153 card at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro. It streamed on Facebook ahead of additional prelims on FX and a main card on pay-per-view.

Camozzi was the first to unleash with kicks in the battle of middleweight southpaws. In fact, most of the offense in the first minute was his.

Cane, however, proved quick to capitalize, catching a Camozzi kick and wheeling to his back before tripping them to the mat. Quickly taking back mount, he threatened with a choke for the next minute of the fight. Camozzi escaped the close call and immediately returned fire, working kicks and two-punch combinations. On the feet, his activity trumped Cane’s power shots. But the two still traded heavy leather as the first frame came to an end.

With his cornermen telling him to trust his striking, Cane advanced first in the next frame. But Camozzi quickly shut that down with more charging combinations, though Cane struggled to find a home for his straight left. Meanwhile, Camozzi continued to score, battering Cane across the ring. Time after time, Cane allowed his opponent to corner him and unload against the cage. The second frame was mostly a showcase for Camozzi’s striking.

Two straight lefts found the mark for Cane early in the third, but Camozzi continued to press at a faster pace, pumping his jab in the Brazilian’s face. The fight sputtered along for several minutes until Cane landed another two thudding left hands. Again, though, Camozzi held fast, and adjusted his strategy to include countering as Cane charged. A final exchange saw him get a little too loose and get cracked with a hard one-two. But time ran out before Cane could capitalize.

“I’m not super happy with [my performance], but I’m happy to win,” Camozzi said afterward. “There’s always stuff I can work on. I’ve just got to work to become great.”

“The crowd wasn’t in my corner, but it was still cool. I was booed, but it still got me pumped,” Camozzi said. “He came out tough, and I’m glad he did. Now I’m going to stay in Rio for a couple of days, go back to training and hopefully get a big name on a main card soon.”

“I definitely deviated a little bit from my game plan,” Cane said. “If I hadn’t, maybe things would have been different. He is a tough guy and I expected a full battle of three rounds. The energy in Brazil is always great. It’s my second time fighting here, second loss, but this is not going to bring me down. Now I’m going to go back home and think of the next step.”

Camozzi (18-5 MMA, 5-2 UFC) extends his current win streak to three while Cane (12-5 MMA, 4-5 UFC) has lost four of five outings and is in danger of a finding a pink slip on his doorstep despite the drop in weight class.

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